this forum welcomes all forumers who appreciate decent and well thought out views and discussions. all forumers are encouraged to accept that different forumers have different views and often there is no absolutely right or wrong views.

the 60,000 female malay graduates registering for employment is a govt policy that has gone seriously wrong. and the number could possibly be more. what is more pertinent is that despite the reporter claiming that the graduates possessed irrelevant degrees, which at first impression were either religious studies or some cultural or artistic subjects, but not true. these were graduates with degrees in business studies or information technologies. very marketable degrees. their problem is the inability to converse in the english language at a reasonable level.

this is only the tip of an enormous problem of a govt policy that emphasises on political objectives at the expense of economic considerations. the malaysian govt finds it acceptable to level down, to dispense away with real talented people with technical abilities and think that by awarding as many bumiputras with a piece of paper and all problems will be solved. what they could not comprehend is that in a world that is increasingly knowledge based, you really need technical expertise to be relevant and competitive.

the latest time higher education supplement (THES) is a rude awakening of sort. the premier university, the university of melaya, has its ranking dropped from 89 to 169. and compares this with nus and ntu at 22 and 48 place respectively, it is quite stunning and embarrassing.

the malaysian govt will need to do some serious soul searching and take some decisive and painful actions to rectify a generation of errorneous affirmative actions. in terms of mistakes in educational policies, it will take a generation or more to feel the damage and it will take more than a generation to catch up for the lost time._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

terrette said...
interesting topic. could you provide a link or reference to the original article or study?

thanks.

November 04, 2005 4:28 PM

redbean said...
hi terrette, the 60,000 unemployed graduates is reported in today's straits times. the ranking of um can be found in an article in www.littlespeck.com.

cheers

November 04, 2005 4:32 PM

Anonymous said...
May you live in exciting times
But the "old media" is alive and well here in the former capital of French Indochina.
Find out how to buy and sell anything, like things related to highway construction project on interest free credit and pay back whenever you want! Exchange FREE ads on any topic, like highway construction project!

November 04, 2005 5:42 PM

Anonymous said...
the quality of education in malaysia is really bad. firstly, the students that are admitted into the universities are not of good quality because the primary and secondary school systems dont produce students that are able to master english well enough to meet market demands. secondly, the universities themselves do not have courses of high quality which are internationally recognised .When the inputs are poor as well as the input transformation process, it is thus not surprising that the output is of poor quality as well. the malaysian government needs to revamp the entire education system, from primary up to university level. only then will malaysian graduates be more marketable.

November 05, 2005 12:02 PM

redbean said...
what had happened is a very vicious cycle that will eventually destroyed education in malaysia.

the first problem is to pump in all the average and below average students, which therefore guarantees a very average quality of graduates coming out.

this is compounded by filling the academic positons with equally average academics, thus further lowering the quality of the education. poor teachers and poor students make a potent formula for poor standards and products.

no good academics of any reputation will want to join the universities. so what you have is a formula of inbreeding of the average with the average.

the malaysian govt must seriously rethink on their policies and objectives of education and the education of its population to achieve economic goals and social progress.

November 05, 2005 3:05 PM_________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

after eight economic plans and 35 years of execution and affirmative policies, malaysia is rolling out another racist economic policies to amass wealth in the hands of the bumiputras..

if after 35 years and there is still no progress is increasing the wealth of the bumiputras, it tells on two things.. one, the data presented is false.. the 30% target has long been exceeded. or two, it is a hopeless and futile effort.. it will not happen or be achieved no matter how much affirmative actions are imposed.

i would believe that missing the target of 30% bumiputra ownership of wealth in malaysia is all a concocted figure.. the bumiputras have exceeded their share of ownership of the nations wealth but are too greedy and are still scheming to have more.

get an independent body to work out the statistics and present the true picture of who is amassing all the wealth.. the non bumiputras cannot be superhumans and so superior that despite all the grabbings by the bumiputras, they could still retain their share of the nations wealth.

and for badawi to express reservation that distribution of wealth on racist lines will break up the country, and then to continue to enshrine it in the new economic plan, is puzzling.. very likely he could not stand up to the pressure of the bumiputras for more.

what the bumiputra leadership is failing to see is that by taking and giving instead of working for it, they will forever be stucked in the same trap.. can't perform or unable to perform, but waiting for others to generate the wealth, and then take it from them.

if the past records are what one can expect, the next 10 or 20 economic plans will still be the same._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

genting international's $5 billion package for the marina casino makes many people salivate.. how could a little casino operator afford to fork out that kind of money in a single project, and all private fund.. not money printed by the govt..

lim goh tong is standing tall against the american and international giants in his bid for a stake in the budding casino industry in singapore and the region.. and his bid is practically all from his own group of companies.. unlike sands and harrahs or mgm who share the cost with local property developers.. this is what individual enterprise is all about.. the wisdom, the foresight, the hard work, the business acumen and a little luck and plenty of guts to put in the money, mainly his own money. no govt to nanny or to pull all the strings.

the only thing bad about lim goh tong is that he is one of the statistics that provide the impetus for the 9th malaysian racist economics plan.. his assets, and the few like him, will add to tip the scale in favour of the non bumiputras as if all non bumiputras are as rich as him.. and the ambitious bumiputras all wanted to be like him or at least have his wealth by telling the govt how to take it from the country..

people who cannot create wealth or did not have the knowhow or willingness to slog for it will find the money that they grabbed without sweating for it quickly slips away.. wealth creation and making money is not simply ask and be given.. or perhaps yes, ask and be given but be lost in no time.

that is what the 9th economic plan will try to do._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

Sad to say that this new economic plan still enshrines and encourages the " crutch mentality " of the bumiputras. I am all for equal distribution of national wealth. Over the last 35 years, Malaysian economic policies have always been slanted towards the bumiputras, to engage them to jointly develop the Malaysian economy. I believe the Malaysian govt has achieved this over the last 3 decades. The proportion of national wealth owned by the bumiputras has increased many folds. However, the problem lies in the uneven distribution of this "bumiputra wealth" amongst the bumiputras themselves. I guess that 80% of this "bumiputra wealth" is enjoyed by probably 20% of the urban bumiputras, with the remainder 20% of this national wealth being shared by the rest. There is still a big portion of rural bumiputras that has not really benefited at all through these years of this so called wealth distribution. I guess these are the people the Malaysian govt is using to justify the continuation of the " crutch mentality ". I love Malaysia, my country of birth, but this is a thorn in my side I cannot seem to live with.

mahathir tried to use the govt to take public money and create a few bumi millionaires.. but as the saying goes, what is not is not.. they keep piling the pockets of a few individuals who ended up trying to pile more into their own pockets.. and some time in double quick time.

the general bumi masses still poor as a church mouse and the blame is placed squarely on the non bumi.. so the govt comes in to rescue the poor again by another 5 year plan.. the poor masses are so ignorant and helpless and will continue to be poor even with another 10 five year plans.

and they will be fleeced again when the causeway bridge is built, and the expensive passports.

i know you love your country speed. it could have been a rich and prosperous country. but out of 10 horses, 3 good ones have gone overseas, like to singapore, to race.. another 2 good ones have their legs tied to run with the 5 three legged horses.. and the 2 good ones still winning.

how could a country run on 5 three legged horses and 2 winners with their legs tied, and drove other good horses away to seek greener pastures? it is like a 4 cylinder car running on 2 cylinders with one misfiring all the time._________________what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.